So I have a little story for you. Perhaps it is a horror stoery, perhaps a comedy. I'll let you decide. I took today off from work in order to get some rest and recover from some physical exertion this past weekend, I had been out of town as well. My wife went to work. I got a call from her at about 10 this morning and she said she didn't take my car because it wouldn't start (whenever I don't go to work she takes my car because it is nicer). She said it didn't sound like a battery issue, but didn't open up the hood or anything because she was in a hurry. So I decide to check it out. I first try to start it...sure enough, no good. It gets close but simply won't turn over. So I am thinking sparkplugs or something similar...bad connection. The car had been in the garage over th weekend so anything could have failed over time. I open up the hood and there is crap all over the top of my engine - bits of paper, fabric, leaves...crap. I am confused. I start to grab handfulls and throw it off on the ground. During one handful I feel something soft like a gummy bear, but it does not register until I had already thrown it on the ground. I look down, confused yet again, and see...a newborn animal. It is still in the pink, blind, squirmy stage. My initial reaction is one of sheer horror and discust. Then I hear some faint sqeking noises from my car and see three more little critters. Nice. Now it also makes sense that on Friday morning I saw a puddle of water on the ground from my windshield wiper resevoir. I thought it was a leak but, sure enough, there was a section of the hose on top of my engine. The mother must have known water was in there. So I removed all four babies and put them in a little bag, waiting for me to either kill them or drop them off somewhere. My best guess is that they are rats. I had accidentally left a little crack of my garage door open (long story) the last few weeks, so it had to have been something small enough to slip under. I cleared all the debris I could and the engine still won't start so that mother messed with something else. I have a neighbor around the corner who is a mechanic and he said he would look at it later. So...any ideas what I should do with the critters or what I should check for as far as getting the engine started? If I leave the critters outside under a bush I am sure a cat will eat them. I hate death of any kind, even if it is a bunch of stupd rats...so I am unsure. One suggestion i already got was put them in a ziploc and thrwo them away. They will suffocate, but it will be better than being eaten or starving to death. Ugh.
Chances are pretty close to 100% they will die no matter what you do. The mother will not be able to find them and they will not be able to survive on their own. The only thing you can do is contact an animal shelter or some type of animal habitat (a zoo or maybe a vet) and see if they will take them. We used to have a local vet that woul dtake just about anything that people brought in.
if it's your responsibility to keep them from death, you'd better start on your journey for the elixir of immortality sooner than later. or you can do what politicians do, and send them to fight a foreign war, that way they die in honor.
If you were in Houston I would say take them to the Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. My wife works for them. They take in 10-15 baby animals every day (preferably with a donation). They younger the baby animal the harder it is to keep them alive but they have sucessfully raised and released about every kind of animal you can find in Texas. My wife will have 10 or 12 baby doves at any time in the spring and rehabs baby squirles as well. You might have squirrels , opposoms or woodrats.
As has been suggested, perhaps the mother is the engine problem. What type of car? Have you looked for blockage & impediment around the belt system?
Another crushed fetuses under my hood thread, come on guys we can be more original than this, can't we?
least it was titled different those "looks like i got crushed critters under my hood" are getting tired
OK, update: There were 6, not 4 babies. One died in the engine, another died in the bushes, and the other four disappeared from various locations. The mother was damn smart...I tried to kill her. Car was towed...pretty sure mother was in the bumper (or I killed her). Insurance handling it...which, although slow, is good because... Over $3300 worth of damage. Because I went through insurance, though, Infiniti would not give me a loaner...so no 2004 G35 for me (what they have given me before). Rodent bastards. Suffice it to say my garage and home perimeter are extremely unfriendly to rodents at the moment.
